| 1. This Will Change Everything: Ideas That Will Shape the Future | 
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By: John Brockman
Publisher: Harper Perennial
December 22, 2009
This is a nice read that can be read in no particular order since it is composed of very short essays. If you're like me and have a short attention span with books but are interested in the ideas and opinons of others who are experts in their fields, then this is the book for you. All of the opinions are no more than a few pages each. That gives room in the book to talk about a wide variety of interesting... more
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| 2. What Have You Changed Your Mind About?: Today's Leading Minds Rethink Everything | 
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By: John Brockman
Publisher: Harper Perennial
January 06, 2009
OK. My title is overstated. The arrogance is not absolute. There are few people who aren't filled with themselves. But it isn't worth the price of the book to find them.
Most of the essays are not about changing their mind at all, just a twist on their original views. And the number of unscientific pronouncements uttered along the way are astounding. The acceptance and reliance... more
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| 3. What Is Your Dangerous Idea?: Today's Leading Thinkers on the Unthinkable | 
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By: John Brockman
Publisher: Harper Perennial
March 13, 2007
Ideas from an all-star team of current thinkers, 108 of them. Some are a paragraph or two, some are several pages. Some you will disagree with. Some are not really dangerous, but worth considering. Almost all will get you thinking. ... more
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| 4. What Are You Optimistic About?: Today's Leading Thinkers on Why Things Are Good and Getting Better |
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From: Harper Perennial
Publisher: Harper Perennial
October 30, 2007
Many of the essays in this collection are short 1-pagers. Nonetheless, reading through the book, one gets the sense that one is in the midst of great thinkers, peering over their shoulders as they speak candidly about their worldviews... more
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| 5. The Next Fifty Years: Science in the First Half of the Twenty-first Century | 
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From: Vintage
Publisher: Vintage
May 14, 2002
This book has a lot of intelligent insights, from different authors. It isn't written in a boring or too scientifically acute way, and almost everything should be understandable by almost every reader. Even if some parts will of course seem less appealing to some, depending on what interests you most in those different fields, some of the essays are really well-written, and full of that certain kind... more
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| 6. What We Believe but Cannot Prove: Today's Leading Thinkers on Science in the Age of Certainty |
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By: John Brockman
Publisher: Harper Perennial
February 28, 2006
There are some fun-to-read essays on the nature of consciousnes, cosmos, biology, religion. Time travel and carbon based life excluded. The book is packed with short contributions from neuroscientists, computer scientists and psychologists. The essays on computer-science were a bit complex and hard to follow for non-experts.
On page 199 there is an essay concerning the value of future... more
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| 7. Curious Minds: How a Child Becomes a Scientist |
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From: Vintage
Publisher: Vintage
September 13, 2005
I have enjoyed this book so much. After reading the New York Times Tuesday Science Section for years, I wished that those writers would gather the stories in the "Scientists" series and put them in a book. In CURIOUS MINDS the personal reiminiscences include surprises such as a woman who loved Nancy Drew and her sleuthing. Richard Dawkins, often in the news now,
loved the Dr. Doolittle books... more
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| 8. Intelligent Thought: Science versus the Intelligent Design Movement |
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From: Vintage
Publisher: Vintage
May 09, 2006
This book is a rehash of what should be common knowledge among anyone with a high school education really. But it is so heavy with anti religious bias and a lack of any scientitfc underpinning that it really does the rational thought community on the orgins of our species and the relevant details of evolution something of a diservice.
I say this becasue it provides ammuniton for the "Inteligent... more
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| 9. Third Culture: Beyond the Scientific Revolution |
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By: John Brockman
Publisher: Touchstone
May 07, 1996
Love the premise. It falls apart at some points though.
I Love having the opposing viewpoints at the end of the chapter. Finally you can hear both sides of a debate without having to buy many seperate books. Also I love the short encapsulated synopsis of great thinkers like Dawkins. You get a great overview of all his work, from himself, in just a few pages.
I Love the concept of the... more
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| 10. Science at the Edge: Conversations with the Leading Scientific Thinkers of Today |
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From: Union Square Press
Publisher: Union Square Press
May 06, 2008
This is a good book of thoughtful essays on cutting-edge science, by leading thinkers, but be warned: It was published in 2003 under the title "The New Humanists: Science At The Edge." This isn't clearly stated in some of the reviews and discussions on this book. As for the contents, the individual essays, while informative and enjoyable if you haven't previously read them, are sometimes a few years... more
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